This thesis looks into eroticism in religious devotional literature written in England during the later Middle Ages. From a modern perspective, the seemingly highly erotic nature of the language...Show moreThis thesis looks into eroticism in religious devotional literature written in England during the later Middle Ages. From a modern perspective, the seemingly highly erotic nature of the language employed in these religious texts would be regarded as highly inappropriate, as would the striking similarity between the language of the two groups of literature. The main question this thesis is concerned with is whether the nature of the religious devotional literature is influenced by secular love lyrics or whether there is some other factor that influenced the nature of religious devotional writing in the Middle Ages. In order to answer the main question, this thesis contains a contextualized analysis of several secular love lyrics and religious devotional texts.Show less
